In the Spring Rain

There’s a special quality to the light in the spring especially when it rains. There’s something magical about the combination of the bright green of the new leaves, the dark tree trunks, the colorful flowers, and the jewel-like raindrops. The rain glistens and sparkles, and brings a new life to the world. Then the sun emerges for a moment, and you almost forget there’s ever been such a thing as winter.

Shawl is knit from the bottom up, starting with a long cast on, and decreasing toward the top where the final twelve stitches are grafted together. Beads are used liberally throughout, and sparkle on the shawl like droplets of spring rain.

• Yarn: lace weight; 360 [580, 880] yards.
• Model: Model MacKintosh Yarns Brigit Lace Yarn in Lich in largest size; 500 yards in 50 grams; 70% alpaca, 20% silk, 10% cashmere.
• Gauge: 16 sts and 15 rows to 4 inches in lace stitch, blocked.
• Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm).
• Crochet hook: US 13 (.85 mm), or size that will go through bead.
• Beads: 1050 [1500, 2050] size 8/0 seed beads. I realize that this is an insane number of beads. It is completely possible to knit this shawl including only the beads in the border, or to eliminate them entirely.
• Finished size: 44 x 23 [56 x 29, 69 x 36] inches.
• Stitch instructions: Charted only.

My apologies for the center spine not being quite… centered. I knit this shawl when we had our house on the market, and were packing everything up, so that we could move 1000 miles north… with no house to move into. The beading kept me sane, though the stress of it all still shows.